726 



purpose. And in case we do not, we select 

 some of the outside combs from the colonies 

 having the least disease for this purpose. 

 We take those that contain no brood and 

 but little honey. Even if there should be 

 a little sealed" honey it will do no harm 

 so long as there is room for the bees to 

 store Avhat honey they bring with them 

 in their honey-sacs when they are shaken 

 from the old combs. 



The weak colonies on which the brood 

 is stacked up are treated later in much 

 the same way as described above. I will 

 give full particulars in my next article. 



Remus, Mich. 



{To be cuntinued.) 



EXPERIENCES OF A FOUL-BROOD INSPECTOR 



BY J. E. CRANE 



[This is the first of a series of articles describing 

 beekeeping in Vermont as seen by J. E. Crane 

 while serving as State inspector. — Ed.] 



I knoAV of nothing in the whole realm of 

 beekeeping that will knock the conceit out 

 of an okf beekeeper more effectually than 

 inspecting bees and visiting all kinds of 

 beekeepers. Where one least expects it 

 he will find new devices and short cuts as 

 well as the densest ignorance. He will also 

 meet some of tlie most charming beekeepers 

 who will send him on his way rejoicing, 

 and others whose acquaintance he will not 

 care to court, but whose ways he must init 

 up with. 



I was very fortunate when commeucnig 

 my work as an inspector. I had had con- 

 siderable experience with American foul 

 brood, but knew little or nothing of the 

 European type except what 1 had reach My 

 first visit was in a town where tliis disease 

 had been doing its deadly work for several 

 years, and almost every yard in the place 

 was more or less diseased. One of the 

 most intelligent beekeepeis of the town 

 took me to his home, then out among his 

 bees, and in the most kindly way shoAved 

 me the character of the disease and his 

 Ti:ethod of combating it. I shall ever hold 

 liim in grateful remembrance. He also in- 

 troduced me to some of the other beekeep- 

 ers whose yards were badly diseased. 



The beekeepers of that town are. as a 

 rule, much above the average, both in in- 

 telligence and in enterprise; and upon fol- 

 lowing my advice the locality, within a few 

 months, "was practically free from thai 

 disease. I know of but. one yard there 

 where it exists to-day ; but the territory will 

 have to be watched for a few years to pre- 

 vent its reappearance. 



I have often read in our journals that 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



European foul brood is very apt to break ^ 

 out in yards that have been cured. I at- 1 

 tribute this largely to the fact that more 

 or less of the diseased colonies have re- 

 mained or have been overlooked, forming 

 a nucleus from which the disease again 

 spreads. Even in localities that an in- 

 spector has examined with care, and that 

 are supposed to be free from disease, he 

 is apt, upon making a second inspection, 

 to find new yards, which, although small, 

 are large enough to harbor disease and 

 spread contagion. 



Our State law requires that an inspector 

 shall visit diseased yards a second time to 

 make sure that directions have been fol- 

 lowed and the disease cleaned up — a whole- 

 some provision ! But after making careful 

 inquiries I find I have overlooked yards 

 where disease existed. Even if the inspec- 

 tor were able to find and to examine every 

 yard in a section where foul brood exists, 

 yet the danger of contagion from bees that 

 have escaped and have found a home for 

 themselves would still remain in many 

 places. 



This home may not necessarily be a bee- 

 tree in the woods, as Ave are accustomed to 

 think, but an apple-tree in the orchard, or 

 the cavity between the inner and outer 

 wall of a deserted house, or even the stee- 

 ple of a church or the attic of some house 

 whose inmates have never suspected tlie 

 presence of bees. 



One bee-hunter told me of finding colo- 

 nies in a brush-heap, among stones, and in 

 an apple-tree in a neighbor's back yard. 

 1 once took a colony from a neighbor's at- 

 tic. There is nothing to prevent these wild 

 bees, as we call them, from contracting dis- 

 ease, and, later, from spreading it among 

 bees which have been treated previous to 

 that time. I met three experienced bee- 

 hunters in 1911 who told me that they had 

 found diseased brood in colonies taken from 

 trees. One of these men was an intelligent 

 and somewhat extensive beekeeper who at 

 one time lost all of his bees because of 

 foul brood, and 1 believe his statements 

 should be taken at their face value. 



Now, I think we should not consider any 

 given section cleaned up until there has 

 been time for all of these wild colonies to 

 die off, say two or three years; then if 

 tlie disease does not reappear in any yard, 

 that particular section may be safely pro- 

 nounced free from further trouble. 



The law of the State under which I have 

 worked makes it the duty of the inspector, 

 when he finds a contagious disease, to visit 

 all apiaries in the vicinity, so that, if pos- 

 sible, he mav learn just how large an area 



